Only about 1 in 6 Canadians have ad blockers installed

Despite dire warnings about ad-blocking software's impact on advertising --publishers' main source of revenue -- a new study from IAB Canada, using comScore data, shows that only one in six Canadians (about 17%) have ad blocking installed on their desktops; and even fewer (6%) have it on their mobile devices. The highest usage of ad blockers (28%) is among millennial males.

"Interestingly, the study revealed that 13% of Canadians that had installed ad blocking software/apps at one point have actually disabled or deleted it from their system,The biggest motivators cited for uninstalling/no longer using ad blocking were the fact that the ad blockers didn’t work properly and that they interfered with site functionality."

The study found that Canadians overwhelmingly prefer free, ad-supported online content versus pay-for-content options. The preference was for less intrusive ad formats with skippable video ads and behaviorally-targeted ads getting the highest scores.

Downloadable study

IAB releases "playbook" for "native advertising"

What used to be called "advertorial" (ads imitating stories) is now called "native advertising" and it has been a bit of a wild west out there, with no one knowing what the standards or rules were. Well, in its role as the new sheriff in town, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has prepared the IAB Native Advertising Playbook", which is available for download. 

Though mostly concentrating on the web and the interface between traditional TV and the internet, the new standards bear on what print and digital magazines do, too. 

“Marketers are already embracing native strategies and publishers are looking for a roadmap that will allow them to take full advantage of the trend,” said Peter Minnium, Head of Brand Initiatives, IAB. “The more we can define and structure the framework surrounding native advertising, the easier we will make it for brands to easily incorporate it into their ad buys.”

“I firmly believe that advertising on the modern internet will be defined by meaningful content, not standard ads. There’s a movement happening, away from interruptive, traditional ads, and towards thoughtful brand stories — and native ads are the most potent and effective distribution strategy for content-based advertising,” said Dan Greenberg, Founder and CEO, Sharethrough, and Co-Chair, IAB Native Advertising Task Force.

Online advertising in Canada tops $1 billion

Online advertising in Canada reached $1.01 billion dollars in 2006, according to a report by the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada. This is an 80% increase over the 2005 actuals of $562 million and considerably more than the IAB had predicted. The French market in Canada was about 21% of the total.

Display ads were responsible for 36% of the total, search 35%, classified and directory ads 27% and e-mail advertising 2%.

Already the IAB is projecting 2007 growth of 32% and says that it may take only two or three years to reach $2 billion (it took 13 years to reach $1 billion).

Note to all you "attention-based" vehicles out there...

Estimated internet advertising in Canada is expected to reach $801 million during 2006, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, as reported in Media in Canada. That will be up 54% from last year's $562 million. By comparison, total magazine advertising in Canada is about $1 billion ($590 million in consumer magazines).

"There's no question that Canadian marketers are getting the Internet religion," says Lynn Fletcher, formerly Arnold Worldwide's chief strategic officer and now a partner in Toronto-based Fletcher Weir Consulting. "In many cases, agencies are rushing to catch up, (but) clients are well aware that, as they move on from attention-based connection strategies, they need larger investments in the Internet to really deliver engagement - especially among key youth and business-to-business targets."

"Attention-based connection strategies". Magazine publishers, this means you.

Paula Gignac, the President of the IAB (and formerly in charge of Rogers Media's women's service websites -- Chatelaine, Flare and Today's Parent -- says in a release on the IAB's website that the share of dollars allocated to Internet advertising (almost 7 percent of total ad spend in Canada for 2006), is quickly moving towards the 10-15 percent mark.

"And while 7 plus percent is a good result, it's definitely shy of where Internet spending in Canada should be, given that there are over 21 million unduplicated users, or 62 percent of the total Canadian population Online every month. To compare, in the United States, only 57 percent of the total population uses the Internet every month.

"If we can get the Canadian industry to a billion plus dollars by 2007, and Internet spending closer to 9 percent of the total, then," says Gignac "we're really going to see a tipping point for the medium."

Meanwhile, a report from Jupiter Research says that the 9 per cent internet ad spending in the U.S. is largely being done in conjunction with search engines.